Pictures of The Day #3
2009.06.14: Stars at the Galactic Center
The center of our Milky Way Galaxy is hidden from the prying eyes of optical telescopes by clouds of obscuring dust and gas. But in this stunning vista, the Spitzer Space Telescope’s infrared cameras, penetrate much of the dust revealing the stars of the crowded galactic center region. A mosaic of many smaller snapshots, the detailed, false-color image shows older, cool stars in bluish hues. Reddish glowing dust clouds are associated with young, hot stars in stellar nurseries. The very center of the Milky Way was only recently found capable of forming newborn stars. The galactic center lies some 26,000 light-years away, toward the constellation Sagittarius. At that distance, this picture spans about 900 light-years.
2009.06.13: Philadelphus delavayi and Papilio rutulus
Plant Family / Families: Hydrangeaceae
Scientific Name and Author: Philadelphus delavayi L. Henry
Named for the French missionary Père Jean Marie Delavay (1838-1895), who characterized much of the flora of Yunnan, Philadelphus delavayi is a variable species that is considered one of the most beautiful of all mock oranges. Like other Philadelphus species, Delavay mock orange is an arching shrub that displays its pure white, saucer-shaped, fragrant flowers on short, lax racemes. The appeal of Philadelphus delavayi does not lie so much in its open flowers—which are admittedly large and beautiful—but in the sumptuous plum-purple calyces that back the flowers. The startling contrast of the purple calyx and white corolla is best seen before the flowers are completely open.
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